SOLVED. YA Fantasy- It's about kids (in this case it was a brother) who are taken away from their families for showing signs of creativity. But where they are taken is not what the townspeople, or the boy were expecting. Spoilers ahead. [s]

[Taylor]

"I read this in 2015 or 2016, sometime while I was in high school, however, the book was in the middle school section. The author was female and I distinctly remember messaging her on Twitter and getting a response almost immediately which I thought was really cool! The book was very new at the time I read it. It was a physical hard copy. It was published in the US, written in English, and I think the author may have been from the New England area.

As mentioned in the title:
WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!






Within the first few scenes of the book, I remember there were two brothers (possibly identical twins) playing with some of the neighborhood kids and one of the brothers picks up a stick and starts drawing in the dirt (which was seen as a HUGE nono). Because of this, the boy is taken away from his family on a bus. The bus is supposedly taking him somewhere that will teach him how to fit in, but as soon as he gets there it turns out that the place he was taken to is actually a magical academy of sorts. Lots of magical creatures and powers and things of the sort. I'm not sure if this is from this same book but I vaguely remember there being some sort of flying golden mythological creature on the cover of the book! I think he was a pet of some sort for the academy.

I know there are other books in this series, there were at least 3 or 4 books by the time I graduated in 2018, and I know the author was working on more. I believe the brother that stayed with the parents ends up joining their version of the military and fighting against the academy at some point, but for the most part, the academy is not known to the townspeople, and they try to keep it hidden for as long as possible."

[Becca]

The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann

[David]

The Unwanteds by The Unwanteds, Becca's suggestion.

Seems to fit the description.

[Taylor]

Becca- YES!!!! THAT'S IT!! You have no idea how long I've been struggling to find this. Thank you so much!!!!

[Taylor]

The Unwanteds